Phys.org news tagged with:seed dispersalhttp://phys.org/
en-usPhys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.Bettongs bolster sandalwood chancesBurrowing bettongs (Bettongia lesueur) play an important role in distributing sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) tree seeds and thus potentially bolstering diminishing sandalwood populations, according to recent research.http://phys.org/news/2015-07-bettongs-bolster-sandalwood-chances.html
Ecology Mon, 13 Jul 2015 07:40:12 EDTnews355992003North American weed poses hay fever problem for Europe Itchy eyes, sneezing and wheezing are likely to spread in Europe in coming decades as a notorious allergy-causing North American weed goes on the rampage, scientists said on Monday.http://phys.org/news/2015-05-north-american-weed-poses-hay.html
Ecology Mon, 25 May 2015 11:10:46 EDTnews351771036Best conservation practices consider both genetics and biologyRestoring diverse vegetation along the Atlantic seaboard after devastating hurricanes or replanting forests after destructive wildfires rests mightily upon one tiny but important ingredient: the seed.http://phys.org/news/2015-05-genetics-biology.html
Ecology Tue, 12 May 2015 08:54:01 EDTnews350639632Fish play a role in seed dispersal over large distancesFish can play a role in seed dispersal over large distances. Heavy seeds in particular pass undamaged through the mouths and intestines of fish and may end up being dispersed for miles, both in an upstream and downstream direction. As a consequence, reintroduction of water plants into newly created nature may not be necessary. Freshwater Biology has published a study by ecologists and fish experts from Radboud University and Wageningen University .http://phys.org/news/2015-04-fish-role-seed-dispersal-large.html
Ecology Wed, 01 Apr 2015 06:50:02 EDTnews347088997Conifers' helicoptering seeds are result of long evolutionary experimentThe whirling, winged seeds of today's conifers are an engineering wonder and, as University of California, Berkeley, scientists show, a result of about 270 million years of evolution by trees experimenting with the best way to disperse their seeds.http://phys.org/news/2015-03-conifers-helicoptering-seeds-result-evolutionary.html
Evolution Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:46:27 EDTnews345833178Primates indispensable for regeneration of tropical forestsPrimates can influence seed dispersal and spatial genetic kinship structure of plants that serve as their food source. This is the result of a cooperation project of behavioral ecologist Eckhard W. Heymann from the German Primate Center (DPZ) with plant geneticists Birgit Ziegenhagen and Ronald Bialozyt from the Philipps-University Marburg. This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (Bialozyt et al., Trees, 2014).http://phys.org/news/2014-11-primates-indispensable-regeneration-tropical-forests.html
Ecology Mon, 24 Nov 2014 09:15:52 EDTnews336042943Overhunting of large animals has catastrophic effects on treesThe elephant has long been an important spiritual, cultural and national symbol in Thailand. At the beginning of the 20th century, its numbers exceeded 100,000.http://phys.org/news/2014-11-overhunting-large-animals-catastrophic-effects.html
Ecology Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:45:22 EDTnews335083511Ants plant tomorrow's rainforestTropical montane rain forests are highly threatened and their remnants are often surrounded by deforested landscapes. For the regeneration of these degraded areas, seed dispersal of forest trees plays a crucial role but is still poorly understood. Most tree species are dispersed by birds and mammals, but also by ants. A study published today in the Journal of Ecology by a team from the LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and the University of Halle-Wittenberg proves the importance of this hitherto neglected ecosystem function for the restoration of montane rain forests. Ants promote the regeneration of these forests by dispersing seeds to safe sites for tree establishment.http://phys.org/news/2014-03-ants-tomorrow-rainforest.html
Ecology Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:50:03 EDTnews314521712Study finds forest corridors help plants disperse their seedsA forest in South Carolina, a supercomputer in Ohio and some glow-in-the-dark yarn have helped a team of field ecologists conclude that woodland corridors connecting patches of endangered plants not only increase dispersal of seeds from one patch to another, but also create wind conditions that can spread the seeds for much longer distances.http://phys.org/news/2014-03-forest-corridors-disperse-seeds.html
Ecology Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:17:34 EDTnews314450239Plants compete for friendly ants(Phys.org) —Many woodland plants rely on ants to disperse their seeds; such seed dispersal increases the plant population's chance of survival. Robert Warren, assistant professor of biology, has recently demonstrated that ant-dispersed plants (myrmecochores) compete for ant dispersers by staggering seed release.http://phys.org/news/2014-02-friendly-ants.html
Plants & Animals Mon, 10 Feb 2014 06:32:34 EDTnews311236341Are crocodiles secret fruit-lovers?Seed dispersal by animals is important for plants to help them occupy new areas of land. Usually bugs, birds, or intrepid kittens do that job. Now we can add crocodiles to that list. A new study reviewed the diets of crocodiles and showed that 13 of 18 species ate fruit of some sort and a wide variety of plants.http://phys.org/news/2013-11-crocodiles-secret-fruit-lovers.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:00:01 EDTnews303467200Aussie diggers linked to ecosystem declineA new Murdoch University-led study has highlighted the relationship between the loss of Australian digging mammals and ecosystem decline.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-aussie-diggers-linked-ecosystem-decline.html
Ecology Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:42:02 EDTnews299324502Climate change may speed up forests' life cyclesMany climate studies have predicted that tree species will respond to global warming by migrating via seed dispersal to cooler climates. But a new study of 65 different species in 31 eastern states finds evidence of a different, unexpected response.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-climate-forests-life.html
Environment Wed, 11 Sep 2013 15:20:49 EDTnews298131640Ancient cycads found to be pre-adapted to grow in grovesThe ancient cycad lineage has been around since before the age of the dinosaurs. More recently, cycads also co-existed with large herbivorous mammals, such as the ice age megafauna that only went extinct a few tens of thousands of years ago. Cycads that are living today have large, heavy seeds with a fleshy outer coating that suggests they rely on large bodied fruit-eating animals to disperse their seeds. Yet there is little evidence that they are eaten and dispersed by today's larger-bodied animals, such as emus or elephants. If these plants are adapted for dispersal by a set of animals that has been missing from Earth's fauna for tens of thousands of years, then how can they still be around today? A new study proposes that the clumped dispersal mechanism these ancient plants most likely relied upon still serves them well today.http://phys.org/news/2013-08-ancient-cycads-pre-adapted-groves.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:40:54 EDTnews296235642Airborne gut action primes wild chili pepper seedsScientists have long known that seeds gobbled by birds and dispersed across the landscape tend to fare better than those that fall near parent plants where seed-hungry predators and pathogens are more concentrated.http://phys.org/news/2013-06-airborne-gut-action-primes-wild.html
Ecology Fri, 21 Jun 2013 04:30:29 EDTnews291007713New hypothesis proposed on why some seeds are hardHard seeds are prevented from germinating by a water-impermeable seed coat, and for many years this has been considered to be a dormancy mechanism. Scientists from Kew, the University of Bergen and the University of Sheffield have proposed an alternative 'crypsis hypothesis': that hard seeds evolved to hide from mammalian predators.http://phys.org/news/2013-05-hypothesis-seeds-hard.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 15 May 2013 08:50:01 EDTnews287823253Emus get GPS treatmentMurdoch University researchers will be placing GPS tracking devices on six emus to track their movements and habits in jarrah forest at Avon National Park.http://phys.org/news/2013-03-emus-gps-treatment.html
Ecology Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:42:05 EDTnews283513319Hunting for meat impacts on rainforestHunting for meat in the African rainforests has halved the number of primates. However, the hunting also has other negative consequences. The decline in the number of primates causes a reduction in the dispersal of seed by the primates, and this leads to a reduction in the numbers of important fruit trees and changes to the rainforest. This has been shown in new research from Lund University in Sweden.http://phys.org/news/2013-03-meat-impacts-rainforest.html
Ecology Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:00:02 EDTnews282976943Color-tunable photonic fibers mimic the fruit of the 'bastard hogberry' plant(Phys.org)—A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter, UK, have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements that create the bright iridescent blue color of a tropical plant's fruit.http://phys.org/news/2013-01-color-tunable-photonic-fibers-mimic-fruit.html
Materials Science Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:59:42 EDTnews278611175Scientists join forces to bring plant movement to lightElementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants to grow and move in response to their environment are not fully understood. Leading plant scientists explore one of the most fundamental processes in plant biology—plant movement in response to light, water, and gravity—in a January Special Issue of the American Journal of Botany.http://phys.org/news/2013-01-scientists-movement.html
Other Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:05:39 EDTnews276343531Study reveals that animals contribute to seagrass dispersalLook out the window and you're likely to see the dispersal of seeds—dandelion tufts in the wind, a squirrel burying an acorn, a robin flying off with a dogwood fruit. You might even have a burr "velcroed" to your sock.http://phys.org/news/2012-12-reveals-animals-contribute-seagrass-dispersal.html
Ecology Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:49:17 EDTnews275154550Scientists study how the endangered Baird's tapir and farmers in Nicaragua can co-existA team of Michigan State University researchers will soon be heading into the rainforests of Nicaragua to help an endangered species known as a Baird's tapir co-exist with local farmers whose crops are being threatened by the animals.http://phys.org/news/2012-11-scientists-endangered-baird-tapir-farmers.html
Ecology Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:16:45 EDTnews272301397Flightless parrots, burrowing bats helped parasitic Hades flower(Phys.org)—Ancient dung from a cave in the South Island of New Zealand has revealed a previously unsuspected relationship between two of the country's most unusual threatened species.http://phys.org/news/2012-10-flightless-parrots-burrowing-parasitic-hades.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:44:46 EDTnews268382666African fruit 'brightest' thing in nature but does not use pigment to create its extraordinary colour(Phys.org)—The 'brightest' thing in nature, the Pollia condensata fruit, does not get its blue colour from pigment but instead uses structural colour – a method of reflecting light of particular wavelengths- new research reveals. The study was published today in the journal PNAS.http://phys.org/news/2012-09-african-fruit-brightest-nature-pigment.html
Plants & Animals Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:52:08 EDTnews266518304Have thieving rodents saved tropical trees?Big seeds produced by many tropical trees were probably once ingested and then defecated whole by huge mammals called gomphotheres that dispersed the seeds over large distances. But gomphotheres were probably hunted to extinction more than 10,000 years ago. So why aren't large-seeded plants also extinct? A new Smithsonian report to be published in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of July 16, suggests that rodents may have taken over the seed dispersal role of gomphotheres.http://phys.org/news/2012-07-thieving-rodents-tropical-trees.html
Ecology Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:58:20 EDTnews261669481Genetics of Arctic plants under serious threat from climate change, study saysA new EU study by a team of Austrian, French and Norwegian researchers has found that rising temperatures as a result of climate change will have differing genetic consequences within single Arctic plant species. It is hoped that these new results will help focus future conservation efforts in the region and help scientists prioritise which species are important to conserve. http://phys.org/news/2012-01-genetics-arctic-threat-climate.html
Ecology Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:16:13 EDTnews247133747Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change bufferPreserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world's drylands, according to a new landmark study.http://phys.org/news/2012-01-diverse-ecosystems-crucial-climate-buffer.html
Environment Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:20:04 EDTnews245595637Pilbara mistletoe faces sub-regional extinctionA new study from the Department of Environment and Conservation suggests long-term modern fire regimes could pose a threat to WA mistletoes (Loranthaceae sp).http://phys.org/news/2011-12-pilbara-mistletoe-sub-regional-extinction.html
Environment Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:30:01 EDTnews243508084Climate change driving tropical birds to higher elevationsTropical birds are moving to higher elevations because of climate change, but they may not be moving fast enough, according to a new study by Duke University researchers.http://phys.org/news/2011-12-climate-tropical-birds-higher-elevations.html
Ecology Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:03:42 EDTnews242568192Are all alien encounters bad?The pages of ecological history are filled with woeful tales of destruction from non-native species -- organisms that originated elsewhere.http://phys.org/news/2011-08-alien-encounters-bad.html
Ecology Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:47:08 EDTnews233923562